1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device for attaching a stretch label on a surface of a good such as containers containing toners, chemicals, cosmetics, foods or the like. In addition, the present invention also relates to a method for attaching a stretch label.
2. Discussion of the Background
Conventionally, a heat shrinkable label is attached to a container containing a good such as toners. Attaching such a label on a container makes it possible to easily identify the content (for example, a cyan toner, a magenta toner, a yellow toner or a black toner) of the container from outside.
In this case, since a toner is contained in the container after the label is attached to the container upon application of heat thereto, the toner is not affected by the heat.
However, recently there is a need such that a label is attached to an outer surface of a container in which a toner is already contained. In this case, it is not preferable to adhere a label to a container upon application of heat because the properties of the toner in the container tend to be changed. In addition, in this method the label attaching apparatus needs to have a heating device, and thereby the apparatus becomes large in size. Further, a large amount of carbon dioxide is generated when rising the temperature of the heating device, resulting in warming of the earth. Therefore, recently stretch labels which can be attached to a good such as toner containers and other containers utilizing only the elasticity of the labels (i.e., without applying heat thereto) have been used.
For example, published examined Japanese Patent Application No. 7-66235 (i.e., unexamined Japanese Patent Application No. 05-42922) discloses a method for attaching a stretch label on a PET (polyethylene terephthalate) bottle containing a liquid such as carbonated drinks. This method uses a tube-like stretch label having a slip preventing member on an inner surface thereof. At first, an extending/contracting device is inserted into the stretch label to extend the stretch label at the slip preventing member. Then the stretched label is set on the predetermined position of the container by the extending/contracting device, followed by removal of the device from the container, resulting in attachment of the stretch label to the container.
However, the method has the following drawbacks. At first, the extending/contracting device is not simple. In addition, since the portions of the stretch label on which the slip preventing member is provided are forcibly extended (stretched) by about 10% by the extending/contracting device, the extendability and contractibility (i.e., stretchability) of the label are deteriorated, resulting in defective attachment of the label.
Because of these reasons, a need exists for a stretch label attaching device by which a stretch label can be easily attached to a predetermined portion of a container with precision.